KATHMANDU, MARCH 31
The Girls' Education Challenge, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, recently organised a joint sharing workshop in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mercy Corps and Voluntary Service Overseas, in Kathmandu.
Through two GEC funded projects, Mercy Corps' Supporting the Education of Marginalised Girls in Kailali (STEM II) and VSO's Sisters for Sisters' Education upgraded the teaching methodologies and enhanced the learning outcomes of more than 15,000 marginalised students across five working districts, including Kailali, Parsa, Lamjung, Surkhet and Dhading.
The joint event 'Success and Lessons on providing quality education to marginalised girls in Nepal – an evidence sharing and dissemination seminar', held at the British Embassy on March 24 shared the evidence of recently conducted evaluations to assess GEC efforts in a bid to improve learning outcomes, livelihood opportunities and education standards of girls from marginalised communities.
British Ambassador Nicola Pollitt, said, "COVID-19 lockdowns have been particularly challenging for young students, which is why I was glad to hear that our Girls' Education Challenge programme had helped improve the learning outcomes of over 15,000 marginalised girls across five districts by adopting a student-centric teaching style and advanced teaching methodologies. Girls' education is a priority for the UK, and we look forward to working with the government of Nepal to replicate such successes."
Similarly, Joint Secretary Tulasi Prasad Thapaliya at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said, "The Government of Nepal is developing a National Education Plan to ensure the right to education of all the children with improved quality of learning achievements." He further pinpointed the priority of all concerned working in the education sector to create enabling and welcoming environment to all the children, irrespective of age, sex, gender, culture and language in schools to ensure the right to education of every child.
The event highlighted key successes and best practices for improving education standards, empowering girls and enabling a safe learning environment with the aim of influencing key government stakeholders to adopt such practices improving the education standard across the nation.
This seminar also sought to support the Government of Nepal in its forward planning for Gender-Inclusive Education, as part of the new Education Sector Plan, including scaling and promoting low or no-cost approaches.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 1, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
